Flagey Building, Broadcasting house in Flagey, Brussels, Belgium
The Flagey Building, also known as the Maison de la Radio, is a seven-storey Streamline Moderne structure on Place Flagey in Ixelles, Brussels. Its pale yellow Fouquemberg brick facade has long horizontal window bands and rounded corners, with a cylindrical four-level corner tower topped by a glazed lantern and spire. The base is dark stone with large glazed openings.
The building opened in 1938 as headquarters for Belgian national broadcasting and shaped the country's radio industry for decades. Major renovations between 1998 and 2002 transformed it into a cultural venue hosting concerts and recordings.
The building's name honours Eugène Flagey, mayor of Ixelles from 1935 to 1953. Since 2005 the Brussels Philharmonic has been based in Studio 4, whose organ has 8,000 pipes. The venue runs its own festivals, including the Flagey Piano Days and the Brussels Jazz Festival, and since 2011 has hosted the Queen Elisabeth Competition preliminaries.
The building faces Place Eugène Flagey to the north and the smaller Place Sainte-Croix and the Ixelles ponds to the west, with its main entrance on Place Sainte-Croix. It holds five halls, including the large Studio 4, and since 2011 has hosted the Queen Elisabeth Competition preliminaries. Check the programme before travelling, as events range from concerts to film screenings.
The corner tower was added at the request of engineer Raymond Braillard to shelter the transmission mast for sound broadcasts. The building stands on a concrete slab and copper sheets over spongy ground with an unstable water table, requiring a permanent pumping system.
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